Knowing your audience is key to being an effective marketer, and this is especially true on social media. For social media marketers, knowing your core users on each social network dictates which platforms to focus on. Social media marketing platform Sprout Social recently released a superb infographic that shows the main channels demographic data.
Overall, the data shows social media to be the medium of choice for women. This is especially true on Pinterest where women made up 42 percent of users, and Snapchat where women represented 70 percent of users.
On other networks, like Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram, the numbers were a little more even, but women represented a higher percentage of users. Men use Twitter slightly more than women and Google+ was an anomaly with men making up 74 percent of the user base.
Social media audiences are also relatively young – 18-29 year-olds make up the largest age group on nearly every platform. LinkedIn is the only network where the percentage of 30-49 and 50-64 year old users outnumber their younger counterparts. LinkedIn users also had the highest average income.
Not surprisingly, Snapchat attracts the youngest users, with more than 70 percent under 25. 62 percent of these users also make less than $50,000 annually, perhaps making them a group with less buying power than the core demographic on other social networks.
Here’s the full Sprout Social infographic and demographic breakdown:
[Source: Sprout Social; AdWeek]